Okay I read this article and I had strong opinion on it. Then I read the comments and other people and strong opinions in the opposite direction of me. So I was wondering what you guys thought of this article. Do you agree with me or the other people. My only request is that you read the entire article before posting a reply. I'm not going to post my opinion until I hear yours. Man Pays Settlement With 600,000 Quarters - Yahoo! Finance

Man Pays Settlement With 600,000 Quarters

By Jacob Gershman | The Wall Street Journal – 19 hours ago

Dr. Roger Herrin, a retired surgeon from Illinois who lost his son in a car accident, smoldered with rage. An appellate court had ruled that his family had over-collected insurance benefits. He was left with no choice but to pay back $500,000 to other passengers who survived the accident.

So the doctor exacted his revenge — in quarters.

On Wednesday, he delivered the money to the other parties, complying with a court-ordered settlement. But to their astonishment, he paid $150,000 of it in quarters.

An armored Brink’s truck drove 150 bags of loose quarters from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to a Marion, Ill., bank. The bags were then piled on flatbed trucks that the doctor had borrowed from a friend.

The trucks then rumbled through a busy downtown square, parked outside of two law firms, where the bags were dumped in the lobbies.

The 76-year-old doctor told Law Blog that his coin trick — reported by the Southern Illinoisan newspaper — was a “protest against the ruling.”

The coins weighed close to four tons or about as much as 70 regular-sized couches. If you lined up the quarters, they’d stretch across more than 11 football fields, or more than a kilometer.

“They were not happy. They didn’t know what they were going to do with it. And I wasn’t real congenial,” Dr. Herrin told Law Blog. “We have cash and checks. Which part don’t you want?” his attorney told the nonplussed lawyers and receptionists who gathered around the bags, according to Dr. Herrin.

“They decided they wanted it all,” said the doctor.

“If he wants to pay in quarters, that’s his business,” said Mark Prince, a lawyer representing two of the other passengers.

In 2001, Dr. Herrin’s son, Michael, and two teenage friends were riding in a Jeep Cherokee driven by one of the boys’ mothers when a farm truck failed to stop at an intersection and rammed the vehicle. Michael was killed and the other passengers suffered injuries. One of the kids, the worst of the injured, had to undergo several knee surgeries.

Dr. Herrin, who had purchased his own family insurance policies through nursing homes he owns, settled a wrongful-death claim with two insurance companies, which paid his family $1.65 million, according to court documents. The other passengers had no claim on that money.

There was also a pool of $800,000 in aggregated under-insured-motorist coverage from the crash vehicle for claims by all the passengers, but a trial court came up with a formula that gave the son’s estate most of that money.

Many years and lawsuits later, an appellate court ruled that the lion’s share of the common pool should go to the other passengers. “Frankly, I don’t need the money,” said the doctor. Most of it, he said, had gone to his ex-wife. He said he just didn’t think it was fair to have to return the cash when the only life lost was that of his son.

The doctor, who lives on a 20-acre estate in Harrisburg, had one of his grounds workers help with the hauling Wednesday. “He said he’s very sore from lifting the bags,” said the doctor.

While I totally feel for the doctor/father of the son who did die in the crash, there were others that were injured and should also get some compensation. The court ruled that he was over paid, was it the fault of the others in the car crash?? If I read correctly, he had to pay them the money, so why the coins to them, it wasn't their fault and they did suffer injuries that they have to live with for the rest of their lives. I just don't get the protest??? What is your view?

The doctor received 1.65 million apart from the $800.000 , I understand he has sufferd the greater loss , I'm conflicted on this.
I think you have to take out the part of the separate insurance policy, it has no bearing on the case and since his son did loose his life I think he's entitled to a greater amount, however I think the DR needs to step back and look at the needs of the other victims. Bottom line is the courts ruled he needed to return the sum of money over to the other victims and I think with all that he has he could of did it in a better manor, he and hs family were not the only victims.

If the good doctor paid into the insurance - should he not reap the benefits of the policy? Why should he have to compensate the other victims? I would assume he had some kind of accidental death insurance on his son? Or presumably his insurance company filed a claim on his behalf (or at his expense) to get the settlement.

I would think the driver of the farm truck (or his insurance) should be liable to compensate the other injured passengers. I can only assume from what I read that the other injured passengers made no effort to bring a suit of their own against the driver of the farm truck - so why should they be compensated?

I'm obviously drawing my own lines to connect the dots, but I think some information is missing from this story.

I think you're missing a significant point --- the doctor only paid $150,000 of the $500,000 he had to return, in quarters; and he paid that to the LAWYERS.

This sounds to me like a court decided how the original $800,000 should be split up, after which some personal-injury lawyer convinced the other injured parties to sue for a greater share. The payments to those parties were made by check, the lawyer's fee in quarters. More power to him.

I think you're missing a significant point --- the doctor only paid $150,000 of the $500,000 he had to return, in quarters; and he paid that to the LAWYERS.

This sounds to me like a court decided how the original $800,000 should be split up, after which some personal-injury lawyer convinced the other injured parties to sue for a greater share. The payments to those parties were made by check, the lawyer's fee in quarters. More power to him.

I think the Dr is a horsesass. He should adher to the courts ruling. Pay respectfully not with coins.

This right here is my exact opinion. You said what I felt perfectly. To me the most telling part of this story are these words,

"The doctor, who lives on a 20-acre estate in Harrisburg, had one of his grounds workers help with the hauling Wednesday. “He said he’s very sore from lifting the bags,” said the doctor."

Personally I think he paid the $150K in quarters hoping the lawyers would refuse payment of legal US tender and then he would keep those quarters. But I'm just suspicious.

Queen of Oakville my read on this is the $800K is settlement from the farm driver's insurance company. The money was original split a certain why and the other victims sued. Probably because the doctor lives on 20 acres and already received 1.65 million from his own insurance company. Because the insurance company had already paid him the higher sum of money the doctor was required to refund the overpayment back to the courts.

The story at first makes it sound like his son died and now he has to pay the other victims. So a lot of comments were that's not fair.

My question is if he didn't need the money why not settle the case and pay the other victims. Why fight? This is a man that is not use to losing. He didn't fight for the money or principal. He fight for the satisfaction of winning. When he lost he behaved like a two year old or as Ray correctly states a horsesass.

I understand his pain today more then when I originally posted. Yesterday my mom was driving down the freeway with my crazy sis and my nephew in the back seat. A mini van on the other side of the freeway lost it's tires and it flew through the air onto the windshield of my mom's car. The whole top of the car and the windshield fell on her head. Glass flew in her eyes and the roof blacked and swelled her left eye shut. She is very lucky to be alive. A semi driver in a Wal Mart truck blocked traffic so no one rear ended my mom's car after she was hit. He protected them and I'm grateful to him. My crazy sis' arm was embedded with glass. When I nephew heard the boom of the tire hitting he covered his head with his hooded sweat shirt so he was protected.

The doctor in this story suffered a terrible loss and I feel for him on the loss of his son. The story is very short and there are possibly important details missing. But I still have trouble with the doctor paying in quarters because he states he doesn't need the money and the other two victims of the car accident with were his deceased son's friends. Denying them much need money does not honor his son's memory. If he had to pay back the insurance money to the farm worker who failed to stop and killed his son my opinion would be different. Where Luanne Russo sees a man with a broken heart, I see a man who has lost his way and I hope he finds his way back. But our point of view is shaped by life experience, mine is as a tax collector and it has made me a bit jaded because I see some totally evil and greedy people.

Reminds me of the story of a guy paying for a traffic ticket to the cops with cash, he folded $150 dollar bills into origami pigs and turned those in as payment. The cops had a laugh and posted pictures on the net.

If they accept cash then it's totally within his right to pay in quarters. Technically he could have paid with 15million pennies... be thankful

Reminds me of the story of a guy paying for a traffic ticket to the cops with cash, he folded $150 dollar bills into origami pigs and turned those in as payment. The cops had a laugh and posted pictures on the net.

If they accept cash then it's totally within his right to pay in quarters. Technically he could have paid with 15million pennies... be thankful

Actually I looked this up. Federal code does allow payment in pennies. But an business can refuse a certain type of payment. So say you are mad you credit charged you a late fee, you can legally pay in pennies. However, they can legally require you paid my check or in larger bills. I'm not sure if the changes with a legal judgement. This man was cited disorderly conduct after paying a bill with pennies. So it's not a good idea to piss off a judge. Man cited after paying bill with 2,500 pennies This article goes into better detail. http://cashmoneylife.com/paying-debt...-legal-tender/The penny thing is not something I would pull on the courts.